This might be the silver lining to the economic downturn.
Even Apple computers is not immune to a spending slump -- and it's slashing prices to get consumers buying.
The price of the eight-gigabyte iPhone 3G, which came out last year, will be cut from $199 to $99. That's in the US but Rogers retailers in Canada expect prices to drop here when two new models of the iPhone with more features and memory space are released June 19th.
They'll sell for between $200 and $300.
Apple is also dropping prices on some of its high end computers by $300-including the ultra thin Macbook Air.
The timing of these bargains is related to increased competition.
Apple's phone faces tougher competition from the likes of Research in Motion with its Blackberry -- and Palm -- which released its highly anticipated "PRE" device in the US three days ago. And even Google Inc. launched a pair of phones in Canada a week ago.
Apple might also be banking on profits it gets from downloadable applications for the iPhone and the iPod Touch. It gets 30 per cent --of about 25 thousand applications. And keep in mind when it comes to phones, Apple is small potatoes. Nokia is the big fish with half the world wide cell phone market -- LG, Samsung. Motorola, RIM and Apple are the minnows sharing the other half.
With a report from CTV British Columbia's Chris Olsen
